title: Aspects on the relief of living surfaces using atomic force microscopy allow "art" to imitate nature.
abstract: The visualization of the surface of biological samples using an atomic force microscope reveals features of the external relief and can resolve very fine and detailed features of the surface. We examined specimens from the skin of the amphibians Salamandra salamandra Linnaeus, 1758, Lyciasalamandra luschani basoglui Baran & Atatür, 1980 and Mesotriton alpestris Laurenti, 1768, and from the surface of pollen grains of the plant species Cyclamen graecum Link, 1835 and Cistus salviifolius Linnaeus, 1753, which exhibit certain interesting features, imaged at the nanoscale level. It is likely that the relief influences the attributes of the interfaces between the tissues and the environment. We found that the microsculpture increases in size the surface of the examined tissues and this might be particularly important for their performance in the field. Microsculpturing of amphibians' skin may affect water regulation, dehydration and rehydration, and cutaneous gas exchange. Pollen grain relief might affect the firmness of the contact between pollen surface and water droplets. High resolution imaging of the external relief showed that roughening might induce wetting and influence the water status of the specimens. In addition, roughness affects the radius of water droplets retained in between the projections of the external relief. Roughness of the tissues was highly correlated with their vertical distance, whereas surface distances were highly correlated with horizontal distances. By enabling a more detailed characterization of the external sculptures, through sophisticated techniques, a more comprehensive examination of the samples indicates similarities among different living tissues, originated from different kingdoms, which can be attributed to environmental conditions and physiological circumstances.
authors.affiliation: National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Biology, Section of Zoology and Marine Biology, Athens, Greece. rpolyme@biol.uoa.gr
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Polymeni
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Spanakis
authors.forename: Apostolos
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Argiropoulos
authors.forename: Sophia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rhizopoulou
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force / Q000379:methods*; D012867:Skin / Q000166:cytology*; D012879:Skin Physiological Phenomena; D013499:Surface Properties; D014562:Caudata / Q000502:physiology*